


Finally official

by SugdenLovesDingle



Series: Flufftober [12]
Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Domestic Fluff, M/M, soft dads
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 08:48:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26969257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SugdenLovesDingle/pseuds/SugdenLovesDingle
Summary: Flufftober day 12: the perfect giftSeb has a surprise for Aaron
Relationships: Aaron Dingle/Robert Sugden
Series: Flufftober [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947490
Comments: 8
Kudos: 70





	Finally official

“Mister Sugden-Dingle!”

Robert stopped and turned around. He saw the village postie run up to him waving an envelope in the air.

“Wait a minute, I have something for you!” she slowed to a quick paced walk until she reached him. “It needs signing for. This saves me the trip up to your house or office. If you don’t mind…”

“Oh no, it’s fine.” Robert replied, putting his shopping bag down. He’d just come back from David’s after a supply run for their tea tonight. “Do you have a pen?”

She handed him a pen and Robert quickly signed for delivery.

“Do you have anything else for me? Or Aaron? Holy Scrap, Home James, Liv Flaherty?”

“No, not today. Are you expecting something? I can keep an eye out for it.”

“No, that’s alright. I just thought I’d save you the trip if there was more.” He picked up his bag again and wished her a nice day before making his way home.

He knew exactly what was in the envelope and he needed time to put everything in place. It was a Monday, which meant Aaron wouldn’t be home until late, and hopefully Liv wouldn’t be too busy with her uni work to help him keep Seb entertained a little longer. 

“Hey, how is everything going here?” he asked as he walking into the flat.

Liv was lounging on the sofa with her laptop and Seb tucked under her arm.

“We’re watching cat videos.” She told him, while Seb’s eyes remained glued to the screen.

“If he wants a cat after this, you’re cleaning the litterbox.” Robert joked, ruffling Seb’s hair on his way to the kitchen. “I take it you’re not too busy today then?”

“Me? Why?” Liv asked, narrowing her eyes in suspicion. “What do you want?”

Robert waved the envelope in the air.

“What’s that?”

“Parental rights for Aaron.”

“What? It’s gone through?”

Robert nodded.

“Yep. A couple of years overdue thanks to Rebecca dragging her heels because Ross kept telling her to… but now he’s gone she’s a lot more reasonable.” He said happily. “I went down to my solicitor’s office with her to make sure she signed. And it’s all legal now.”

“Rob that’s amazing! Does he know yet?”

“No. Not yet. I want to tell him tonight. And that’s where you come in.”

“Ok… Do you need me to distract him?”

“No, it’s Monday. He’ll be home late anyway. But I need you to be on stand by with the cat videos while I get everything ready.”

“Alright, YouTube and I can do that.” Liv agreed. “What’s the plan then?”

“I’m going to make that macaroni dish he likes and then let Seb give him the envelope when we’re done.”

“Maybe I should pop over to David’s then for tissues.” Liv joked. “He’s going to cry like a baby.”

Robert laughed and sat down on the coffee table to face Seb.

Liv raised an eyebrow at him, knowing how he always gave everyone hell for doing the same.

“I know, alright, I know.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You were thinking it.”

“You can’t read my mind, I’m not Aaron.” Liv teased.

Robert rolled his eyes at her but focused on Seb who was still engrossed in the cat video compilation playing on Liv’s laptop.

“Hey mate, do you think you can spare a minute for me?”

Liv paused the video while Robert squeezed his ankle. Seb gave her a confused look but when Robert patted his leg again he finally noticed his dad.

“Do you remember what we talked about the other week? That we wanted to make daddy Aaron your daddy on paper too? So everyone would know he's your daddy too?”

Seb nodded.

“Well we finally did that.” Robert showed him the envelope. “In here is a letter that tells him he is your dad to everyone now, not just to us.”

“I want to tell him! Can we go tell him now?” Seb asked excitedly, climbing off the sofa to go put on his shoes and jacket.

“Not so fast. Come back you.” Robert said, opening his arms for Seb and pulling him in for a cuddle. “We're going to make it special. We’ll make his favourite for tea tonight. It's a late day and he’ll be tired when he gets home, so we’ll be extra nice to him and show him how much we love him.” He told the boy. “And then when we've finished our tea, we'll give it to him. Or maybe you can do it alone. As dessert instead of ice cream.”

“But I still want ice cream.” Seb said after a minute, making both Robert and Liv laugh.

“I think we can make that happen.”

“You’ve got your priorities right, squirt.” Liv joked.

“When is daddy coming home?” Seb asked, not really understanding why his dad and his aunt were laughing.

“I don’t know, let’s ask him. But don’t tell him about our surprise yet, ok?” Robert grabbed his phone and dialled Aaron’s number, putting it on speaker. 

“Rob, I’m really busy today and I really don’t have time for a chat if I want to get home in time to at least see my son before he goes to bed.”

“I know, we won’t keep you long, I promise.” Robert said, nudging Seb. “We were just wondering what time you’d be home tonight.”

“Are you coming home soon daddy?” Seb asked innocently, making Robert weirdly proud.

“Oh hey mate.” Aaron’s tone softened. “Are you making sure your dad stays out of trouble for me?”

Seb nodded and Robert laughed.

“He’s nodding. You have to speak up Seb, daddy can’t see you now.”

Seb nodded again and Robert shook his head. Maybe that Oscar wasn’t exactly round the corner just yet.

“So what time do you think you’ll be home?” he asked and Aaron sighed.

“I don’t know. We’re going as fast as we can but we have a lot of work to do. And I’ve had Al on my case twice already today about the smoke.”

“Again? Why does he still think you can control smoke?”

“He’s asking me to only burn stuff when the wind is blowing in the other direction. And as a token of his gratitude he’s offering me free kayak lessons.” Aaron said, part mocking, part annoyed. “Because I really need that.”

“We went kayaking in Wales remember? We had fun.”

“You had fun, I got wet.” Aaron reminded him. “But I’ll ask Billy about the kids program, I saw something about that last time I was picking up take out. That might be fun.”

“Kayaking for kids? Sounds a bit dangerous…”

“I don’t think they’ll put them in the boats on their own, Rob.” Aaron said sarcastically. “But I should go now. I’ll be home as soon as I can, I promise. 7 at the latest. Do you want me to pick up some pizzas next door?”

“No that’s ok, I’ve already planned something for tonight.”

“Alright, see you soon. Love you. Both of you. Bye.”

“Bye daddy!” Seb yelled as Robert hung up. 

“Right.” He got up and clapped his hands. “We’ve got work to do.”

With Liv’s help (and Seb in his own way), Robert managed to clean the entire kitchen in no time and get started on the food.

By the time Aaron got home around 6.30, it was almost ready to be served, the table was set, including a bottle of wine Liv had insisted on getting (and grape juice for her and Seb), and Robert had put on the shirt Aaron had gotten him for Christmas, that he knew he loved on him.

“I’m home!” Aaron called out, walking through the door and kicking his work boots off. “We knocked off a little earlier. “I told Vinny I had a dinner date with a five year old.” He joked as he gave Seb a cuddle hello and walked into the kitchen. “Something smells good.”

Robert greeted him with a kiss.

“I made your favourite.”

“You spoil me.” Aaron smiled then did a double take of his husband’s outfit and the nicely set table. “Have I forgotten an anniversary?”

“No, I just felt like making a bit of an effort. It beats pizza in front of the telly.” Robert lied and noticed Aaron’s gaze lingering on his shirt. “I spilled something on myself. This was the first clean shirt I saw in our wardrobe.”

“Right.” Aaron nodded, not totally convinced. “Do I have time for a shower?”

“Sure. I’ll need about 10 more minutes with this.”

“Alright, I’ll be right back.” Aaron said and rushed upstairs, leaving Robert and Liv looking anywhere but at each other as to not to burst out laughing.

A little while later, the four of them were enjoying their meal while Aaron ranted about his ongoing feud with Al Chapman and the rest of the staff at the outdoor pursuits centre.

“Nobody forced them to build it right next to the scrapyard.” He said in between bites of food. “I never had any trouble with the sweet factory.”

“Maybe because they all worked indoors? And everything at the HOP is outdoors?” Liv suggested.

“Well he should’ve thought of that before. I’m sticking to all environmental rules, he can’t do anything.” Aaron muttered. “Except give me a headache that is.”

“Did you manage to talk to Billy?” Robert asked, trying to steer the conversation to Seb and their surprise.

“No, he had some PT session. But I talked to Ellis for a minute. They’re interviewing people now for karate and judo classes for kids. From age 6 and up.”

“That could be fun.”

“Yeah, maybe. We’ll see when they’ve hired someone. He’s still too young anyway.”

“They have horse riding classes for kids.” Liv pointed out. “You love animals, don’t you Seb? Horse riding could be fun.”

Seb looked back and forth between his parents’ horrified faces and Liv’s amused one.

“Don’t you have an exam to study for?” Aaron asked her. “You know, in your room, with the door closed, and your headphones on.”

Liv laughed.

“No, that was today. And I did alright, thanks. I think I passed.”

As they enjoyed the rest of their meal Aaron began to notice the looks between Robert and Liv and the excited grin that seemed stuck on Seb’s face.

“Ok, what’s going on?” he asked as he put his fork and knife down after his last bite.

“Seb has a surprise for you.” Robert told him. “Do you want to go get it Seb? Do you remember where we put it?”

Seb nodded and got up from his seat.

“Why am I getting a surprise? It’s not my birthday…”

“No but it is a special day.”

“You’re going to love it.” Liv added.

“You know what it is?” Aaron asked and she nodded.

At that moment Seb returned with the envelope.

“This is for you, daddy.”

“For me? What is it?” He took the envelope from Seb and pulled the little boy onto his lap. “Do you want to help me open it?”

Together they tore open the envelope and Aaron took out its contents. He looked through the papers with a confused frown on his face until he found the letter explaining everything.

“So it is with great joy that I can now confirm Aaron Sugden-Dingle is now Sebastian Sugden-Dingle’s legal parent.” He read out loud. “She agreed?” He looked up at Robert.

“Yeah. Finally. It’s official. You’re his dad.”

Aaron sniffed and wiped the tears from his cheeks with the back of his hand.

“Are you sad, daddy?” Seb asked, looking up at his dad.

“No mate.” Aaron said, holding Seb a little tighter and pressing kisses to his cheeks. “I’m really, really happy.”


End file.
